wave (w v)v. waved, wav·ing, waves v.intr.1. To move freely back and forth or up and down in the air, as branches in the wind. 2. To make a signal with an up-and-down or back-and-forth movement of the hand or an object held in the hand: waved as she drove by. 3. To have an undulating or wavy form; curve or curl: Her hair waves naturally. v.tr.1. To cause to move back and forth or up and down, either once or repeatedly: She waved a fan before her face. 2. a. To move or swing as in giving a signal: He waved his hand. See Synonyms at flourish. b. To signal or express by waving the hand or an object held in the hand: We waved goodbye. c. To signal (a person) to move in a specified direction: The police officer waved the motorist into the right lane. 3. To arrange into curves, curls, or undulations: wave one's hair. n.1. a. A ridge or swell moving through or along the surface of a large body of water. b. A small ridge or swell moving across the interface of two fluids and dependent on surface tension. 2. The sea. Often used in the plural: vanished beneath the waves. 3. Something that suggests the form and motion of a wave in the sea, especially: a. A moving curve or succession of curves in or on a surface; an undulation: waves of wheat in the wind. b. A curve or succession of curves, as in the hair. c. A curved shape, outline, or pattern. 4. A movement up and down or back and forth: a wave of the hand. 5. a. A surge or rush, as of sensation: a wave of nausea; a wave of indignation. b. A sudden great rise, as in activity or intensity: a wave of panic selling on the stock market. c. A rising trend that involves large numbers of individuals: a wave of conservatism. d. One of a succession of mass movements: the first wave of settlers. e. A maneuver in which fans at a sports event simulate an ocean wave by rising quickly in sequence with arms upraised and then quickly sitting down again in a continuous rolling motion. 6. A widespread, persistent meteorological condition, especially of temperature: a heat wave. 7. Physics a. A disturbance traveling through a medium by which energy is transferred from one particle of the medium to another without causing any permanent displacement of the medium itself. b. A graphic representation of the variation of such a disturbance with time. c. A single cycle of such a disturbance. Phrasal Verb: wave off1. To dismiss or refuse by waving the hand or arm: waved off his invitation to join the group. 2. Sports To cancel or nullify by waving the arms, usually from a crossed position: waved off the goal because time had run out.
[Middle English waven, from Old English wafian; see webh- in Indo-European roots.]
wav er n. |
wave Verb [waving, waved] 1. to move (one's hand) to and fro as a greeting 2. to direct (someone) to move in a particular direction by waving: I waved him on 3. to hold (something) up and move it from side to side in order to attract attention 4. to move freely to and fro: flowers waving in the wind Noun 1. one of a sequence of ridges or undulations that moves across the surface of the sea or a lake 2. a curve in the hair 3. a sudden rise in the frequency or intensity of something: a wave of sympathy 4. a widespread movement that advances in a body: a new wave of refugees 5. a prolonged spell of some particular type of weather: a heat wave 6. the act or an instance of waving 7. Physics an energy-carrying disturbance travelling through a medium or space by a series of vibrations without any overall movement of matter 8. make waves to cause trouble [Old English wafian]
wave (wv) A disturbance, oscillation, or vibration, either of a medium and moving through that medium (such as water and sound waves), or of some quantity with different values at different points in space, moving through space (such as electromagnetic waves or a quantum mechanical wave described by the wave function). See also longitudinal wavetransverse wavewave function See Note at refraction. | wave structure of a wave |
Wave(s) a body of water; the forward movement of a large body of persons, animals, or things. Examples: wave of admirals; wave after wave of the enemy, 1879; wave of enthusiasm; of error, 1781; of strong feeling, 1855; of immigrants, 1893; of materialism, 1903; of militarism, 1915; of opinion, 1870; of passion, 1781; of population, 1852; of prejudice, 1847; of snow, 1886; of tribulations; of weary wretchedness, 1590.
ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms | Noun | 1. |  wave - one of a series of ridges that moves across the surface of a liquid (especially across a large body of water)motion, movement - a natural event that involves a change in the position or location of something backwash, wake - the wave that spreads behind a boat as it moves forward; "the motorboat's wake capsized the canoe" swash - the movement or sound of water; "the swash of waves on the beach" lift, rise - a wave that lifts the surface of the water or ground tidal wave - a wave resulting from the periodic flow of the tides that is caused by the gravitational attraction of the moon and sun tidal wave - an unusual (and often destructive) rise of water along the seashore caused by a storm or a combination of wind and high tide tsunami - a cataclysm resulting from a destructive sea wave caused by an earthquake or volcanic eruption; "a colossal tsunami destroyed the Minoan civilization in minutes" comber - a long curling sea wave white horse, whitecap - a wave that is blown by the wind so its crest is broken and appears white | | 2. | wave - a movement like that of a sudden occurrence or increase in a specified phenomenon; "a wave of settlers"; "troops advancing in waves"movement, motility, motion, move - a change of position that does not entail a change of location; "the reflex motion of his eyebrows revealed his surprise"; "movement is a sign of life"; "an impatient move of his hand"; "gastrointestinal motility" | | 3. |  wave - (physics) a movement up and down or back and forthmotion, movement - a natural event that involves a change in the position or location of something sine wave - a wave whose waveform resembles a sine curve fluctuation - a wave motion; "the fluctuations of the sea" seiche - a wave on the surface of a lake or landlocked bay; caused by atmospheric or seismic disturbances standing wave, stationary wave - a wave (as a sound wave in a chamber or an electromagnetic wave in a transmission line) in which the ratio of its instantaneous amplitude at one point to that at any other point does not vary with time wave form, wave shape, waveform - the shape of a wave illustrated graphically by plotting the values of the period quantity against time blast wave, shock wave - a region of high pressure travelling through a gas at a high velocity; "the explosion created a shock wave" pulsation, pulse, pulsing, impulse - (electronics) a sharp transient wave in the normal electrical state (or a series of such transients); "the pulsations seemed to be coming from a star" | | 4. | wave - something that rises rapidly; "a wave of emotion swept over him"; "there was a sudden wave of buying before the market closed"; "a wave of conservatism in the country led by the hard right"rise - a growth in strength or number or importance | | 5. |  wave - the act of signaling by a movement of the handmotion, gesture - the use of movements (especially of the hands) to communicate familiar or prearranged signals | | 6. | wave - a hairdo that creates undulations in the hair | | 7. |  wave - an undulating curve | | 8. | wave - a persistent and widespread unusual weather condition (especially of unusual temperatures); "a heat wave"wave front - all the points just reached by a wave as it propagates atmospheric condition, weather, weather condition, conditions - the atmospheric conditions that comprise the state of the atmosphere in terms of temperature and wind and clouds and precipitation; "they were hoping for good weather"; "every day we have weather conditions and yesterday was no exception"; "the conditions were too rainy for playing in the snow" | | 9. | Wave - a member of the women's reserve of the United States Navy; originally organized during World War II but now no longer a separate branchadult female, woman - an adult female person (as opposed to a man); "the woman kept house while the man hunted" | | Verb | 1. | wave - signal with the hands or nod; "She waved to her friends"; "He waved his hand hospitably" | | 2. | wave - move or swing back and forth; "She waved her gun"wigwag - send a signal by waving a flag or a light according to a certain code move, displace - cause to move or shift into a new position or place, both in a concrete and in an abstract sense; "Move those boxes into the corner, please"; "I'm moving my money to another bank"; "The director moved more responsibilities onto his new assistant" | | 3. |  wave - move in a wavy pattern or with a rising and falling motion; "The curtains undulated"; "the waves rolled towards the beach"move - move so as to change position, perform a nontranslational motion; "He moved his hand slightly to the right" luff - flap when the wind is blowing equally on both sides; "the sails luffed" | | 4. |  wave - twist or roll into coils or ringlets; "curl my hair, please"twist - turn in the opposite direction; "twist one's head" | | 5. |  wave - set waves in; "she asked the hairdresser to wave her hair"marcel - make a marcel in a woman's hair gauffer, goffer - make wavy with a heated goffering iron; "goffer the trim of the dress" perm - give a permanent wave to; "She perms her hair" |
wave 4. flutter, flap, stir, waver, shake, swing, sway, ripple, wag, quiver, undulate, oscillate, move to and fro 8. stream, flood, surge, spate, current, movement, flow, rush, tide, torrent, deluge, upsurge
1. A formation of forces, landing ships, craft, amphibious vehicles or aircraft, required to beach or land about the same time. Can be classified as to type, function or order as shown: a. assault wave; b. boat wave; c. helicopter wave; d. numbered wave; e. on-call wave; f. scheduled wave. 2. (DOD only) An undulation of water caused by the progressive movement of energy from point to point along the surface of the water.
 Translations wave [weɪv] n → ola; [ of hand] → señal f con la mano; ( RADIO), ( in hair) → onda; ( fig) [ of enthusiasm, strikes] → oleadavt [+ handkerchief, gun] → agitar; short/medium/long wave ( RADIO) → onda corta/media/larga; the new wave ( CINE, MUS) → la nueva ola; wave aside, wave away vt [+ person]: to wave sb aside → apartar a algn con la mano;
 wave [weɪv] n → vague f [ of hand]; geste m, signe m; short/medium wave (Radio) → ondes courtes/moyennes; long wave (Radio) → grandes ondes; the new wave ( Cine, Mus) → la nouvelle vague; wave aside
 wave [weɪv] n ( also fig) → Welle f; the new wave ( Cine, Mus) → die neue Welle f;
 wave [weɪv] n → onda; [ of hand] → gesto, segno; ( fig) [ of enthusiasm, strikes etc] → ondatashort/medium/long wave ( RADIO) → onde corte/medie/lunghe; the new wave (CINE, MUS) → la new wave; wave aside wave away vt [+ person]: to wave sb aside → fare cenno a qn di spostarsi;
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fibrillary waves
